


Lizard lizard lizard Huan

by LaurengeBleue



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Caranthir is creative, Gen, Maedhros is absent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-09 08:48:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10408383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaurengeBleue/pseuds/LaurengeBleue
Summary: Celegorm's new pet lizards have escaped. They need to be wrangled back into their box. Nerdanel is on it.





	

There was a lizard eating her dinner roast. On second glance, it was attacking the piece of meat like it had a lifelong grudge against beef. Nerdanel picked up the furious mottled green animal by the torso. It twisted and spit, long tail snapping about and sending her flower vase to the ground in a loud crash. She threw the thrashing reptile in a nearby soup pot, quickly putting on the lid. The metal cookware rattled with the wrath of the lizard and the lid nearly came off in a puff of steam before Nerdanel put a heavy plate over it. Now she would have something to reply next time Fëanáro told her that ornamental crockery was useless. 

So Tyelko had a new pet apparently. Valar save them.

The look of guilt on her son’s face when she called him to the kitchen was all the proof she needed. “Your lizard escaped” she said coolly. Tyelko mumbled something about there being three “Well then, you better help me find the other ones then”. Her son darted out, happy for the respite of the lecture he was certain to get later.

Nerdanel headed to her workspace, looking for her gloves. There was no way she was handling another of those scaly nuisances barehanded. The first one had nearly taken a chunk out of her forearm. She did find the gloves, but also found Moryo dripping with red goop and his two younger brothers covered in charcoal. It seemed a particular effort had been made to cover their hair. Ambarussa was happily munching on a drawing stick and black bubbles frothed from his mouth. At least charcoal was non-toxic? Nerdanel waited for an explanation. She was less than impressed by it “Moryo, your brothers do not need to be…color corrected. They are fine with red hair” More explanations from her son “That would explain the mess of cherries gummed up in your hair then. No more hair colour change experiments. To the bath, all three of you. Oh, and have you seen a lizard? Green, bad temper?” No such luck.

The sculptor headed outside. A shaking bush! Maybe this chase would be shorter than she initially thought. She reached inside the bush and pulled out…a sheepish Findekáno. “I’m hiding from Turukáno” he volunteered. Nerdanel inquired as to why that was “We want to start a band, Káno, Findo and me. Turukáno just wants to ruin it. He sings like a deflating bullfrog. And it would ruin our concept” Nerd was curious “The Flying Fins!” Nerd sighed and suggested they give him a triangle to play in the background and sent her nephew along. She had no time for musical drama. Nerdanel thought too late about the implications of the “flying” part of the name.

Meanwhile, Tyelkormo had found a lizard. It was biting on Huan’s tail with impressive dedication and the puppy was running in circle trying to chase the new addition. She didn’t know if the lizard was holding on by sheer stubbornness or because it was afraid it would fly off if it let go. Nerdanel called the dog to her. Huan was exuberantly happy to see them and started wagging his tail, walloping the poor lizard to the ground left and right. It didn’t protest too much when Nerdanel put it in a box. She thought they were a lot more amicable when thoroughly stunned. Huan for his part, took to growling at the boxed lizard and Tyelko was doing his best looking contrite while trying not to burst out laughing.

2 down, one to go. Nerdanel searched the house, Tyelkormo the grounds. Nothing. No lizard. Then it dawned on her with dread. She lifted her eyes to where a wisp of smoke was snaking up to the sky. The forge. It was a very foolish lizard that would venture there. She headed for the building, Tyelkormo in tow. Nerdanel opened the door a crack, the heat blasting her in the face. She nearly let the door close, not seeing any lizard on the ground around Fëanáro’s feet or on the various tables. But then her eyes adjusted. It was there. On Fëanáro’s back. Nerdanel would have to have a talk with him about how too much focus wasn’t a good thing. 

She didn’t want to startle either of them. Animals escaping was already a tense point between Tyelko and his father since the parakeet had crashed into one of Fëanáro’s new lamps and destroyed it. Surprizing Fëanáro might also cause irreparable damage to whatever he was working on. She thought of a plan of action while staring at the angry teethy lump. If she didn’t know better, Nerdanel would have sworn the lizard was watching Fëanáro work from under his arm. Those lizards were truly unsettling.

Gesturing for her son to be silent, Nerdanel picked up a pair of pincers. She crept very slowly toward the lizard as Tyelko held up the box he was carrying open. She was nearly there, reaching for the animal. Then three things happened: she caught the lizard, who startled because of the sudden squeeze from the pincers and let out a tiny burst of flame, which caused her to release the lizard and gasp, and Fëanáro turned around, still holding what looked strangely like a metal triangle. Her husband was quite bemused at the sight of her, pincers in the air and Tyelko with his wicker crafting box “There’s a lizard. On your back”, she gestured. Unfortunately, Nerdanel had no time to say more before Fëanáro reached behind his shoulder and found the lizard. Or more accurately the lizard found his finger. 

So now they had captured the last lizard, but it wouldn’t let go of the prize that was Fëanáro’s finger for anything. Truly, Nerdanel was impressed her husband didn’t so much as complain from the sharp pain. He was much too busy prodding the scaly hide of the animal to make it let go, eliciting vicious if muffled roars from the lizard. He tried staring it down but entering a battle of wills against a creature without eyelids was a lost cause. She suggested just hitting it with a hammer but with such sharp teeth, the smith might lose the finger. Then ingenuity won the day. Fëanáro stuck the end of a small bellow inside the lizard’s nostril and pumped. The green beast let out an affronted squeak and unlocked its jaws. It went into the box rather quietly after that. Now Nerdanel was the one having to repress a laughing fit.

Tyelko finally got all three lizards inside the cage they had come in. Nerdanel mused that Oromë must have known the lizards were bad tempered as the cage was made of solid iron “You better bring those back to Oromë. They have caused enough mayhem and harm. Try getting something less angry next time. May I suggest a dormouse?” Tyelkormo piped up “I didn’t get them from Oromë, mother” When he didn’t volunteer more information, she all but guessed the provenance. He finally admitted “I got them from Melkor” Of course. Nerdanel picked up the heavy cage, jaw set. She made her son promise he would not get any animal from the Vala again. She didn’t need to threaten retribution. She knew Fëanáro would express their displeasure much more eloquently, especially since Tyelkormo knew full well not to have dealings with the Vala. The lizards seethed, but not as much as she did. Now she had to return them. Nasty beasts those were. They honored their provenance in that.


End file.
